Silver Shows Its Mettle against Bacteria (podcast)

If you’re plagued by werewolves, reach for the silver. And more mundane health problems may also respond well to the silver solution. Because a new study shows that microbes exposed to a pinch of the precious metal become more vulnerable to antibiotic attack. The research is in the journal Science Translational Medicine. [Jose Ruben Morones-Ramirez et al., Silver Enhances Antibiotic Activity against Gram-Negative Bacteria]

Silver’s long been a medical treatment. Hippocrates himself applied it to open wounds. But its use as a cure for contagion fell by the wayside with the discovery of penicillin, and the source of its bug-blasting abilities remained a mystery. Until now.